What Causes Headache after Tooth Extraction?

In the jaw there are a great many pain receptors – that is why many patients consider tooth pain most unbearable. Pain of this nature provokes irritation of the nerve endings of trigeminal and other facial nodes. It is because of this that the head may hurt too. By identifying why there are unpleasant sensations, it is possible to quickly cure the aching tooth to get rid of headache. Most often headache occurs after tooth extraction, though there may be other causes of this. Let’s consider the most frequent of them.

Tooth Extraction

Many patients of the dentist note the presence of pain in head after tooth extraction. What occurs most frequent is headache after wisdom tooth extraction. Wisdom teeth are very difficult to treat – they often have curved roots, channels are almost impossible to clean. Therefore, initially a person suffers from caries in the wisdom tooth, then he is trying to treat it, and, in the end, agrees to have it removed.

Note!

The removal of a wisdom tooth is practically a surgical operation. Sometimes it is carried out not under local anesthesia but with the use of general anesthesia.

The headache that occurs after removal can even be considered normal. Dental procedures are carried out with violation of the integrity of the soft tissues and trauma to the bone tissue. Vascular injury causes a disruption in blood circulation, the damaged area of the jaw is swollen. The combination of these factors leads to severe headache. Also, there may appear headache after infected tooth extraction. If a molar tooth broke deep under the gums, it is very difficult to remove. The dentist may use forceps for pulling out the fragments, a scalpel for cutting the gums and even a special chisel for crushing the remnants of the tooth root.

After such operations the patient may experience headache because of the tooth which was removed. Especially frequent is headache after multiple tooth extraction. Pain can occur due to injury of the jaw. If the doctor has not removed all the fragments, if the wound has not been properly cleaned, there can appear inflammation in the hole and the accumulation of pus. All this leads not only to toothache and headache, but also to the general health impairment.

Dental Diseases

Such diseases as caries, gingivitis, pulpitis and periodontitis can lead not only to pain in jaw and teeth. In the absence of proper treatment, the occurrence of unpleasant sensations in the head is likely to take place. Most often, patients note the unilateral nature of the pain, discomfort affects only one side of the head (where the aching tooth is). The pain may spread diffusely, from the teeth to the cheek, affecting the temporal area, ear, neck.

If the patient still doubts whether headache may be caused by a tooth, thinks that the discomfort is caused by the migraine attack, he should pay attention on whether there are such characteristic features of migraine as nausea, photophobia, and increased discomfort at loud sounds. Localization of pain in the head also depends on which tooth is bothering the person. If it is inflammation of the roots of molar teeth, the person may complain of unpleasant sensations in the occipital and parietal area. If it is the lesion of incisors of the upper jaw with caries, the patient feels oppressive pain in the frontal region of the head. In addition, there are dull pressing pain when chewing and discomfort of compressive nature in the temples.

Malocclusion

Head may hurt not only due to the toothache – malocclusion, too, provokes pain. When the head of the temporal mandibular joint is in the wrong position, the lower jaw is gradually moving. The symptoms of pathology are as follows:

The abrasion of the teeth.

The appearance of gaps between the incisor.

Pain in mandibular joint in a relaxed position.

Pain when opening the mouth, chewing, yawning.

The crunch under the ear when moving the jaws.

Unilateral headache.

Also, due to the malocclusion facial muscles are working too hard when chewing. The tone of the muscular system, in turn, is accompanied by headache of pressing character. It is not always possible to determine at home that the occlusion has been formed incorrectly. Therefore, if you suffer from headaches for quite a long time, and neither the therapist nor the neurologist can find the cause of your discomfort, you have to visit the orthodontist.

Is it Possible to Prevent the Occurrence of Pain?

It is not always possible to prevent development of this discomfort. But some preventive measures are available to everyone. To avoid toothache and headache, it is necessary to regularly check the condition of the oral cavity and to treat caries.

If you still feel headache because of the tooth, although the treatment is over and the recovery period is long expired, you should visit an orthodontist to fix your bite. You may also need to undergo additional tests to exclude diseases such as, for example, sinusitis, which also triggers headaches.